Find information about agreements in your language.
Claiming payments
You usually need to be living in Australia to claim an Australian payment.
Agreements may let you claim Australian payments when you’re living in the other country. They may also help you claim payments from the other country when you live in Australia.
Minimum periods of residence
Most payments have a minimum period of residence to qualify. For example, to qualify for the Australian Age Pension you generally need to be an Australian resident for 10 years.
If you don’t meet the minimum period of residence, you may still qualify under an agreement. You may be able to use a period of coverage for that country as part of the residence calculation.
Periods of coverage
Periods of coverage vary between agreement countries. A period of coverage may include any of these:
- time spent paying contributions into a social insurance system
- time spent as a resident of a country
- a deemed period, such as military service or time spent raising children.
We may be able to add together periods of coverage to help you meet minimum qualifying periods for a payment. We can do this if the periods don't overlap.
Example
John has lived in Australia for 7 years and has a period of coverage for 3 years in Latvia. Under the agreement with Latvia, John may be able to add these periods together to qualify for Age Pension.